FREEHOLD, a town and the county-seat of Monmouth county, New Jersey, U.S.A., in the township of Freehold, about 25 m. E. by N. of Trenton. Pop. (1890) 2932; (1900) 2934, of whom 215 were foreign-born and 126 were negroes; (1905) 3064; (1910) 3233. Freehold is served by the Pennsylvania and the Central of New Jersey railways. It is the trade centre of one of the most productive agricultural districts of the state and has various manufactures, including carriages, carpets and rugs, files, shirts, underwear, and canned beans and peas. The town is the seat of two boarding schools for boys: the Freehold Military School and the New Jersey Military Academy (chartered, 1900; founded in 1844 as the Freehold Institute). One of the residences in the town dates from 1755. A settlement was made in the township about 1650, and the township was incorporated in 1693. In 1715 the town was founded and was made the county-seat; it was long commonly known (from the county) as Monmouth Court-House, but afterwards took (from the township) the name Freehold, and in 1869 it was incorporated as the Town of Freehold. An important battle of the War of Independence, known as the battle of Monmouth, was fought near the court-house on the 28th of June 1778. A short distance N.W. of the court-house is a park in which there is a monument, unveiled on the 13th of November 1884 in commemoration of the battle; the base is of Quincy granite and the shaft is of Concord granite. Surmounting the shaft is a statue representing "Liberty Triumphant" (the height to the top of which is about 100 ft.). The monument is adorned with five bronze reliefs, designed and modelled by James E. Kelly (b. 1855); one of these reliefs represents "Molly Pitcher" (d. 1832), a national heroine, who, when her husband (John C. Hays), an artillerist, was rendered insensible during the battle, served the gun in his place and prevented its capture by the British.[1] Joel Parker (1816-1888), governor of New Jersey in 1863-1866 and 1872-1875, was long a resident of Freehold, and the erection of the monument was largely due to his efforts. A bronze tablet on a boulder in front of the present court-house, commemorating the old court-house, used as a hospital in the battle of Monmouth, was unveiled in 1907. Freehold was the birthplace and home of Dr Thomas Henderson (1743-1824), a Whig or Patriot leader in New Jersey, an officer in the War of Independence, and a member of the Continental Congress in 1779-1780 and of the national House of Representatives in 1795-1797.